St Wilfrid's Hospice thanks 'inspirational' family charity for grant

Beneficiaries of the charity, St Catherine's Hospice, Macmillan Cancer Support, and St Wilfrid's Hospice were all presented with a cheque on March 29.

A year of 'incredible' support has seen the foundation raise more than £54,000 which allowed it to support two families by providing grants to families affected by cancer who are unable to afford a holiday or short.

Dream building campaign manager, Chloe Neilson-Hopkins said: "They have been incredibly supportive of our dream building campaign we involved in our direct marketing appeal. We ran one last summer and that raised just over £18,000.

"They have also been involved in running another appeal to get equipment for our new hospice and that has raised around £18,000 too — they have been incredible, they are an inspirational family."

Volunteer fundraising manager, Adam Lay, said: "What we achieved in 2018 hugely exceeded our expectations and for this we are extremely grateful. We could not have done this without our unbelievable supporters, we thank them from the bottom of our hearts.

After father and husband Mark Lay died in 2017 of cancer, Mark's wife Trish, along with his sons and daughter, Tom, Adam, and Jo worked to set up The Mark Lay Foundation.

Volunteer executive, Tom Lay said: “Losing dad at such a young age, 46, was a huge shock to our little family. He’d achieved so much in his life through the family he raised with our Mum, Tricia, and through his fundraising. When he passed away we couldn’t think of more fitting way to pave his legacy than to do what he did so well — bring people together and make a difference”.